McConnell Dowell is a major infrastructure construction company founded in New Zealand in 1961.
In 2003 it became a wholly owned subsidiary of
Aveng, which is listed on the
Johannesburg Stock Exchange
JSE Limited (previously the JSE Securities Exchange and the Johannesburg Stock Exchange) is the largest stock exchange in Africa. It is located in Sandton, Johannesburg, South Africa, after it moved from downtown Johannesburg in 2000. In 2003 ...
in South Africa.
History
McConnell Dowell was formed in 1960 by two New Zealand engineers, Jim Dowell and Malcolm McConnell. It was involved in pipeline projects in New Zealand before expanding to Australia, Asia and the Middle East in the 1970s.
McConnell Dowell was listed on the
New Zealand Stock Exchange
New Zealand's Exchange (), known commonly as the NZX, is the national stock exchange for New Zealand and a publicly owned company. NZX is the parent company of Smartshares, and Wealth Technologies.
On 30 August 2020, the NZX had a total of 1 ...
in 1983 as part of the arrangements to take over
Hamilton Hamilton may refer to:
People
* Hamilton (name), a common British surname and occasional given name, usually of Scottish origin, including a list of persons with the surname
** The Duke of Hamilton, the premier peer of Scotland
** Lord Hamilt ...
construction company Hawkins Holdings. During the remainder of the 1980s, McConnell Dowell also ventured outside of the engineering field int banking and finance, through shareholdings in National Insurance Company of New Zealand, National Pacific Corporation, Renouf Partners, Kupe and property development of the
Robert Jones Tower in Auckland.
Following the
1987 stock market crash
Black Monday is the name commonly given to the global, sudden, severe, and largely unexpected stock market crash on Monday, October 19, 1987. In Australia and New Zealand, the day is also referred to as ''Black Tuesday'' because of the time z ...
, McDonnell Dowell merged with Inter-Pacific Equity, an Australian
investment bank
Investment is the dedication of money to purchase of an asset to attain an increase in value over a period of time. Investment requires a sacrifice of some present asset, such as time, money, or effort.
In finance, the purpose of investing is ...
, and sold off National Pacific to
Government Life Insurance.
Morrison-Knudsen (USA) took up 48.9% of McConnell Dowell in 1991, but in the mid-1990s sold its share to
Dominion Bridge Corporation (Canada) who then held 63%. In 1999, Dominion Bridge sold its share to LTA Ltd (South Africa) which was acquired by
Aveng the next year.
Aveng acquired full ownership from the remaining minority shareholders in 2003 via a scheme of arrangement.
McConnell Dowell bought a majority interest in South Australian company Built Environs in 2008.
McConnell Dowell was one of the construction partners in Stronger Christchurch Infrastructure Rebuild Team which was responsible for rebuilding infrastructure in Christchurch following the
2011 Christchurch earthquake
A major earthquake occurred in Christchurch on Tuesday 22 February 2011 at 12:51 p.m. local time (23:51 UTC, 21 February). The () earthquake struck the entire of the Canterbury region in the South Island, centred south-east ...
.
Major projects
Some of the major projects that McConnell Dowell has built include:
*
ANZ Centre
The ANZ Centre is an office skyscraper in Auckland, New Zealand. Located at 23 Albert Street, the tower stands at in height and has 35 levels of office space, with a total of floor space.
It was formerly known as the Coopers & Lybrand Tower a ...
, Auckland, New Zealand
*
Marsden Point Oil Refinery Marsden Point Oil Refinery is a 96,000 BPD refinery located at Marsden Point, Whangarei, Northland, New Zealand. It is the only oil refinery in New Zealand, and is operated by Refining NZ. The point was named after Samuel Marsden. The regional sur ...
, New Zealand
*
Te Mihi Power Station
The Te Mihi Power Station is a 166 MW geothermal power station owned and operated by Contact Energy, located north of Taupo in New Zealand.
The resource consent for the power station was "called in" by the Minister for the Environment Trevor ...
, New Zealand
*
Barwon Heads Bridge
The Barwon Heads Bridge is a road bridge and a separate pedestrian bridge across the Barwon River between Barwon Heads and Ocean Grove, Victoria
Victoria most commonly refers to:
* Victoria (Australia), a state of the Commonwealth of Austr ...
, Victoria
*
Beauty World MRT station
Beauty World MRT station is an underground Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) station on the Downtown Line (DTL) in Bukit Timah, Singapore. Located along Upper Bukit Timah Road, this station took its name from the historic Beauty World, an amusement par ...
, Singapore
*
Marina Bay Cruise Centre Singapore
The Marina Bay Cruise Centre Singapore (also known as the International Cruise Terminal and abbreviated as MBCCS) is a cruise terminal in Singapore, located at Marina South. The construction of the S$500 million terminal began in October 2009 an ...
*
O-Bahn Busway
The O-Bahn Busway is a guided busway that is part of the bus rapid transit system servicing the northeastern suburbs of Adelaide, South Australia. The O-Bahn system was conceived by Daimler-Benz to enable buses to avoid traffic congestion by ...
Adelaide Access Project, South Australia
*
Barangaroo ferry wharf
Barangaroo ferry wharf is a ferry wharf located on the eastern side of Darling Harbour, in Sydney, Australia. The wharf is the major public transport link of the Barangaroo precinct, situated west of the Sydney central business district. The com ...
, Sydney
*
Gold Coast Light Rail
G:link, also known as the Gold Coast Light Rail, is a light rail system serving the Gold Coast in Queensland, Australia, and is the sole light rail system in Queensland. The system forms part of the TransLink's South East Queensland public t ...
,
Queensland
)
, nickname = Sunshine State
, image_map = Queensland in Australia.svg
, map_caption = Location of Queensland in Australia
, subdivision_type = Country
, subdivision_name = Australia
, established_title = Before federation
, established_ ...
*Chith Export Facility, Queensland
*Port Capacity Project, Port of Melbourne, Victoria
*Western Program Alliance, Victoria
*
South Tarawa
South Tarawa ( gil, Tarawa Teinainano) is the capital and hub of the Republic of Kiribati and home to more than half of Kiribati's population. The South Tarawa population centre consists of all the small islets from Betio in the west to Bonriki ...
main road from
Betio
Betio is the largest township of Kiribati's capital city, South Tarawa, and the country's main port. The settlement is located on a separate islet at the extreme southwest of the atoll.
Betio Post Office opened on 5 April 1957 and closed in 1964. ...
to
Bonriki
Bonriki is a settlement on Tarawa atoll, Kiribati, near Temwaiku and is part of the municipality of South Tarawa. It is in the south-east of South Tarawa. Bonriki International Airport, one of two international airports in Kiribati, is located h ...
Safety
In the early 2010s, McConnell Dowell was accused of lacking safety culture, and encouraging workers to report injuries as having occurred in their own time to preserve clean injury reports to leverage getting future large contracts. It claims to have improved its safety practices significantly over the last 30 years.
Incidents
EPA vs Trevor Morgan
In 1995, McConnell Dowell's CEO Trevor Morgan was found guilty of an offence in the
Land and Environment Court of New South Wales
The Land and Environment Court of New South Wales is a court within the Australian court hierarchy established pursuant to the to hear environmental, development, building and planning disputes. The Court’s jurisdiction, confined to the state ...
. Morgan had signed a return which showed that McConnell Dowell had only rarely contravened the licence’s permitted pollution level when, in fact, there were many occasions the level was exceeded. Morgan was fined $4,000.
Woolloomoolloo oil spill
In 2003 A pipeline was damaged at the
Finger Wharf
The Finger Wharf is a heritage-listed former wharf and passenger terminal and now marina, residential apartments, hotel and restaurant located at 6 Cowper Wharf Road, in the inner city Sydney suburb of Woolloomooloo, Australia. It was designed ...
during construction works. In a court action initiated by the
Environment Protection Authority against McConnell Dowell (found not guilty), Moltoni Corporation, a subcontractor working for McConnell Dowell in New South Wales was implicated for the discharge of oil into the waters of
Woolloomooloo Bay
Woolloomooloo ( ) is a harbourside, inner-city eastern suburb of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. Woolloomooloo is 1.5 kilometres east of the Sydney central business district, in the local government area of the City of Sydney. It is in a low ...
. Moltoni was exonerated from any responsibility for damage to the pipeline and the consequent spillage.
References
{{reflist
Companies listed on the New Zealand Exchange
Construction and civil engineering companies established in 1961
Construction and civil engineering companies of New Zealand
New Zealand companies established in 1961